The government offers an instrument of timely electricity bills payments

The government offers an instrument of timely electricity bills payments6>

05/12/2016

New specific bills are planned for the communal enterprises that are engaged in centralized supply and drainage of water. The costs paid for the water will immediately be allocated as payments for used electricity, etc. This will impede those organizations from creating and accumulating debts for the electricity.

The draft law enabling implementation of such changes was adopted at the government session on December 1. Verkhovna Rada will make the final decision.

Such a law became necessary given the significantly increased debts for the electricity used in 2016. They are mainly the debts of communal enterprises of water supply and drainage. This makes the electric power wholesale market situation worse in Ukraine and acts as a brake on the reform of the electric sector.

To mention, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a draft law of Ukraine “On the electric power market of Ukraine” on September 22 this year. According to the law, the debt-servicing at the wholesale electric market and payment in full of running accounts is one of the key requirements of the reform of the energy sector.

A similar initiative in the sphere of heating supply was successfully implemented in 2014. Besides, bills with a special provision introduced for heating supply make payments better and significantly decrease the amount of debts for the natural gas used by the heating energy enterprises. There are analogous requirements in electric energy and gas supply sectors.